The Next Headache from Obamacare

A new phase of the Obamacare launch is coming, this one involving Medicaid. And it could be déjà vu all over again, says Kyle Cheney, reporting for Politico.

– On Nov. 1, the health law’s malfunctioning enrollment system is supposed to send reams of data to states so they can begin placing thousands of people into Medicaid.

– But state officials say that transfer system has barely been tested and could be vulnerable to technical failures like those that have crippled the broader Obamacare sign-up process.

“We’re flying blind on what the process is,” said Kathleen Nolan, state policy head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “There hasn’t been the capacity to do a lot of the testing. … There’s a natural concern that with a major load of data to be sent all at once – there is concern that what has been tested may not be able to handle the volume.”

There is a potential workaround. Smith noted that people can also sign up for Medicaid directly through the state. That could ease pressure on the federal enrollment system in the short run, he said.

But aside from that, state Medicaid programs can’t do much to prepare for Nov. 1 other than wait for the federal government to hit the “on” switch, said Nolan. There’s no Plan B if things go awry.